Diabetics Avoid Daily Injections With New Implantable Pancreas - http://clapway.com/2015/07/02/diabetics-avoid-daily-injections-with-new-implantable-pancreas765/

Are You a Type 1 diabetic? New Implantable Pancreas may help

A study has recently arisen in the ACS journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research that suggests that living with Type 1 diabetes may become more tolerable, with the development of a new implantable pancreas that can regularly measure blood sugar and glucose levels, then automatically release insulin as necessary. For all living with Type 1 diabetes, this new advancement in medicine is a game changer.

What does this new implantable pancreas mean?

You know those dreaded necessary evils of pricking yourself with a needle to measure blood sugar every so often? Well with this new pancreas, the need to do so will be gone with the regular measurements and self-dosing. So, the chance to say goodbye to those daily pricks may be coming up soon.

Type 1 diabetes is mostly seen and diagnosed in children and young adults under the age of 20, otherwise known as juvenile diabetes. The statistics for this type show only 5% have it, but those young people’s lives depend on managing diabetes correctly. This development may help with that.

How does this new implantable pancreas work?

This pancreas was designed in mind with taking out the effort and pain of pricking and dosing yourself. Thus, the researches in charge of the study developed an algorithm to measure blood sugar levels, and then based on them calculate your insulin dosage. Said dosage is then delivered without using the needle, and only when it is needed. Computer testing of the new implantable pancreas showed that, using the algorithm in coincidence with the peaking and falling of sugar levels in response to meal times and sleeping at night, the pancreas delivered the insulin and kept the blood sugar at a sufficient level almost eighty percent of the time.

A test on animals will soon be underway to see its efficiency put in practice and tested with a living organism. The study was made possible through funding by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. This new method will also be faster than current methods, and the researchers working on this project will most likely try to achieve that ideal blood sugar level as close to one hundred percent of the time as possible.

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Diabetics Avoid Daily Injections With New Implantable Pancreas

Why Does Alzheimer’s Affect Women More? Study Will Find Out - http://clapway.com/2015/06/28/research-to-begin-later-in-summer-about-alzheimers-affecting-women-more654/

What’s up with Alzheimer’s affecting more women than men?

Studies about Alzheimer’s have found that the gene associated with the disease, APOE, or rather the APOE4 gene variant specifically, affects women more. Thus, the risk of a woman contracting Alzheimer’s disease is higher.

What’s worse about this is that the gene variant, APOE4, is common in 1 in 5 people, as evident in the 2012 article Genetics of Alzheimer’s Disease. So, the chances of Alzheimer’s affecting women more rises with the commonality of the gene variant.

In 2013, around five million Americans were living with Alzheimer’s.

It is also projected that this number is to rise to a nearly three times larger number, fourteen million by 2050. Often, the changes that the brain undergoes can be years in the making before the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s become evident.

What is the next step in determining all of this?

There is much that scientists studying the disease do not yet understand when it comes to what is causing Alzheimer’s to arise or how Alzheimer’s affecting women more is so prevalent. Maria Carrillo, chief science officer for the Alzheimer’s Association said, “There are enough biological questions pointing to increased risk in women that we need to delve into that and find out why.”

One researcher, Roberta Diaz Brinton, studies if menopause is a sort of precipice that makes women more susceptible to contracting Alzheimer’s. Also, her studies revolve around how estrogen affects the brain and whether or not this may be a factor in the susceptibility of menopausal women who may later encounter cognitive problems.

At the moment, Alzheimer’s disease is one of the top ten leading causes of death in the United States, most especially prevalent in the elderly between the ages of 65 to 85 years of age. The rates are only increasing thereby spiking rising concerns and questions about the disease among the public.

So, last month the Alzheimer’s Association brought together fifteen leading scientists to discuss women’s risk of getting the disease. Later in the summer, the association plans on beginning funding for the research to understand the missing pieces in Alzheimer’s effect on women more.

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Why Does Alzheimer’s Affect Women More? Study Will Find Out

Drug Typically Used for Arthritis Possibly Treats Vitiligo Too - http://clapway.com/2015/06/26/drug-typically-used-for-arthritis-possibly-treats-vitiligo-too323/

A recent experiment which tested a middle-aged woman suffering from progressive vitiligo, was shown to have resulted in most of her patched skin turning back to its original color. This was all thanks to an oral drug, tofacitinib, usually meant for treating severe cases of rheumatoid arthritis.

About the drug in question for treating vitiligo

The drug in question, tofacitinib, “belongs to a family of drugs known as Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors that have been approved… by the US Food and Drug Association (FDA)” according to recent reports. This drug is typically prescribed to those who are diagnosed with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. Additionally, when it comes to degenerative diseases such as vitiligo, tofacitinib has also been proven to treat alopecia, a condition which results in hair loss.

The experiment conducted for testing vitiligo

One 53-year-old woman was tested to see if her progressive vitiligo can be treated with the use of the arthritis drug, tofacitinib. The experiment was conducted by having her take 5mg of the oral drug once a day, the dosageeventually being increased by 5mg about a month later. Taking a dose of approximately 10mg of tofacitinib proved show success after two months as the woman’s white patches were showing partial repigmentation. According to researchers of the study, “After 5 months, the white patches she had been most concerned with on her face and hands were nearly all gone. Only a few white spots remained on other parts of her body”. It appears with this experiment/trial, that this discovery is definitely, and truly a breakthrough, when it comes to an autoimmune disease, such as vitiligo, finally having a potential medication to help treat the horrendous depigmentation.

Any long-term and adverse effects at the moment?

During, and after, the experiment, there appeared to be no long-term, adverse effects when the woman was on the tofacitinib trial, for her vitiligo. However, because only one woman was used during the trail there would need to be a lot more people recruited for further findings. This is to make sure the findings are more concrete and is safe, as well as truly an appropriate treatment for vitiligo, for sufferers of the autoimmune disease to benefit from.

For more information on this experiment/trial, please go to JAMA Network.

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Drug Typically Used for Arthritis Possibly Treats Vitiligo Too

And how you can, too! - http://clapway.com/2015/06/25/how-the-dutch-are-nailing-the-perfect-lifestyle/

Biking Like The Dutch Just Might Be The Answer!

The first thing people associate The Netherlands with is biking. It is not an exaggeration to say that bikes are the primary mean of transportation for almost every single Dutch, regardless of age or gender. In fact, in a country where bikes are more common than people and is geographically the flattest in Europe, it comes as no surprise. But biking just might be the answer!

Having lived in Utrecht, one of the country’s most charming cities and a suggested destination for anyone visiting The Netherlands, I have used my bike more than I used my feet or any other kind of transport mode. Night buses do not exist there, despite being one of the country’s biggest student cities, so biking back home after a night out is as normal for a Dutchie as a cup of coffee is for us every morning.

Recent findings from the country’s biggest university

The University of Utrecht is the largest higher education institution in The Netherlands, and a study from there recently discovered that Dutch bikers (or just the Dutch) live on average six months longer just because of their daily activity. Also, the study found out that in the Netherlands, as many as 11,000 premature deaths yearly are preventable thanks to biking.

The incredible infrastructure across the country makes biking extremely easy and it has become, throughout the years, a huge aspect of Dutch culture.

I often read articles on Denmark being a “bikers heaven”, but after moving to Jutland (one of the country’s regions) straight after living in Holland, I realised how those who think Denmark is the best country for biking have definitely not travelled to The Netherlands yet.

Biking also reduces polution

Biking has also other great benefits, such has reducing emissions in the atmosphere, contributing to greener and healthier environments. This has greater implications for bigger cities, where traffic is the biggest cause of air pollution. For this reason, mayors of large capitals such as London are pushing the use of bicycles and the development of proper infrastructure as much as possible. 

Cycling for a happier and healthier lifestyle

Also, very interestingly, one of the reasons why the countries in the north are considered among the happiest in the world (The Netherlands was ranked fourth last year), is because biking, as all sport activities do, triggers endorphins which are known for generating feelings of happiness in your body. Therefore, since this sport is a very big part of almost everyone’s daily life here, this could somehow explain why they are considered so happy on a world basis.

So as many of us are squashed on the subway every morning or running to catch the bus because we slept in, adopting a few tips for a healthier lifestyle from the Dutch might be a solution. And, why even compare a packed, stinky train carriage to the freedom of a morning bike ride?

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How The Dutch are Nailing the Perfect Lifestyle